Sonic Racing CrossWorlds Is Sega At Its Creative Best

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

SEGA

I got a Switch 2 at launch and had plenty of fun playing Mario Kart World, just like millions of other people. But to be perfectly honest with you, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is the racing game I’ve been more eager to play about this entire time. And now after getting the chance to go hands-on with it via a demo event hosted by Sega in San Francisco, I can confirm that my excitement was well-placed.

By dialing in on Sonic’s signature sense of speed, Sega’s massive roster of iconic and emotive characters, and creative track designs that feel fresh and different every race, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is shaping up to be one of my new favorite racing games.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Hands-On Preview

This might be an unpopular opinion to admit publicly, but I’ve always preferred Sega’s Sonic racing games over Nintendo’s Mario Kart. Like most things Sega has done over the years, Sonic Racing has been all about experimentation and evolution. I think that’s what I enjoy so much about it. When a new Sonic Racing game comes out, you have a general idea of what to expect, but you never quite know what you’re going to get—to me, that’s exciting.

Dating back to the Game Gear, Sonic Drift was a direct answer to Mario Kart and I’ve loved the blue blur’s take on the genre ever since. I even have a lot of fond memories playing Sonic R on the GameCube’s Sonic collection since I never owned a Sega Saturn growing up. Plus, we got the Sonic Riders games that generation as well, which felt really unique and original.

Fast forward to the PlayStation 3 era, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed was a revelation. The track designs, character roster, and dynamic gameplay that transformed your vehicle between air, land, and sea (admittedly, an evolution of Nintendo’s own Diddy Kong Racing from Rare) all had me absolutely hooked. It’s still one of my favorite all-time racing games.

I played and enjoyed Team Sonic Racing, but the team-based format wasn’t my preference. Now, with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, it feels like both a return to form and natural evolution with a huge opportunity to speed away as my new favorite.

In many ways, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds feels a bit like a direct answer to my main issues with Team Sonic Racing by removing the team dynamic and refocusing on transformations. But even beyond that, now it’s not just the vehicles that transform mid-race, but the tracks themselves. Let me explain.

A typical race in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is three laps. Once you’re nearing the end of the first lap, two portals appear. There are over a dozen potential locations those portals could send you to and you’re given a window-sized preview into what it might be, or if it’s a random portal. Whoever is in first place at the time the portals appear is who gets to decide which one to take.

Then, the majority of the second lap takes place inside one of these “CrossWorld” portals. Once you’re back, the third lap completes on the original track.

What’s remarkable is that, not only is the premise in and of itself exceedingly creative with how much variety and unpredictability it can inject into a race, but it’s also technically impressive because the entire track transforms without so much as a loading screen. It’s remarkable and adds a ton of depth, especially once you consider the customization of how you outfit your vehicle gear as well as which items you pick up during the race. All of those factors together ensure that two races will literally almost never be exactly the same.

Another fun little twist is that, instead of just being a race across a handful of tracks, there is one final race at the end of the Grand Prix in which you run through a lap from each of the individual tracks sequentially back-to-back-to-back. I didn’t get a chance to see if they can connect together in the same way if you created a custom assortment of tracks or if the predefined Grand Prix races are the only combinations.

The last little twist to talk about is the rival system. During races, you’ll randomly be assigned a rival who will directly compete against you during the tracks, throw banter back and forth, and generally give you someone to battle on the road beyond just trying to get first place. It’s a really elegant and nuanced system that doesn’t get in the way at all, but just adds a little more depth and fun.

During my preview session I had enough time to complete two Grand Prix progressions. I did the first set of courses on Normal difficulty, but it honestly felt a bit too slow and devoid of difficulty since I was able to very easily get first in everything without ever struggling. Once I bumped up a difficulty level and switched over to the newly revealed set of tracks, such as Kronos Island from Sonic Frontiers and another track from Sonic Superstars, things got a lot more interesting. I got second three times and only first once, but overall my Grand Prix total was just enough to secure the overall victory.

As I mentioned, transformations are back with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds so you’ll transition between car, boat, and plane during races. Drifting felt great and all of the different loadout options were, frankly, a little bit overwhelming for a preview format. I didn’t have much time to dig into them really, but there seems to be a ton of build variety here. If you enjoy drifting, for example, you can tweak your gear and optimize it for drift boosting, but if you like being more aggressive then you can adjust your loadout for that instead.

Combine this with the fact that you can individually build your vehicle just how you want it by mixing and matching parts from each character’s themed ride, in addition to painting individual pieces and even adding stickers as decals—it’s mind-boggling. I can’t wait to see all the possibilities once the game’s out next month.

We still don’t know a large chunk of the roster, but I’m happy to see non-Sonic characters making their way back into the party with additions like Hatsune Miku herself, as well as Ichiban from Like a Dragon, Steve from Minecraft, Pac-Man, and more already confirmed.

I got the chance to try out Hatsune Miku during the preview event and absolutely loved her style, personality, and hover board vehicle. One really small touch I almost missed is that, after each race, there is a very catchy jingle theme that plays during the results screen and if you’re playing as Hatsune Miku, it’s edited to be her voice singing it instead. Love it.

On top of all that, since you can mix and match at-will, I could have used Metal Sonic or Amy on a hover board instead, or put Hatsune Miku in a car, for example. I’m still not over all the possibilities and customization here.

This preview event only covered a very small portion of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. I didn’t get to try out the local or online multiplayer options and there is a whole Battle-style Race Park party mode with a variety of race types and conditions designed around encouraging fast-paced multiplayer mayhem. That one’s definitely going to be a blast to dig into at launch.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds releases for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, Switch 2, and PC, including cross-platform multiplayer, on September 25.